Apathy wins Euro election

Voters stay away as Euro vote fails to spark interest in the masses

Dumfries and Galloway ploughed its own political furrow as another Euro election tiptoed past.

Not only did the region provide the second largest UKIP vote in Scotland at 13.4 per cent of the poll – Moray was top with 13.6 – it was also one of just four where the Conservatives crossed the finishing line first, the others being Scottish Borders, East Renfrewshire and South Ayrshire.

When the polling station doors closed on Thursday night, it had been yet another EU poll that had failed dismally to grab the interest of the voting public.

From an electorate of some 116,000, more than 72,000 either deliberately stayed away, forgot or failed to appreciate seats in Brussels were up for grabs.

Interest levels did return to those of 2004 with the 42,774 who did cast their vote translating to a 36. 7 per cent turnout, well above that of Scotland as a whole at 33.5.

The Conservatives were way out in front with 14,143, some 33 per cent of the vote, pretty much the same as the last two elections, 34 per cent in 2004 and 32.2 in 2009. That built on their share of the 2009 poll by just over 1,900 although the turnout then was lower at 32.7 per cent.

Labour came second with 8,909 which essentially appears to have been a recovery from the 2009 disaster when their vote plummeted by more than five per cent to just 5,733, pushing them into third place with only 15.2 per cent of the vote. The 20.8 per cent share was slightly better than 2004 when they polled 20.6 per cent.

The SNP were bumped back into third spot in the wake of Labour’s recovery.

However, their share of the vote, 8,634, was up on 2009 when they were second with 8,247 although in percentage terms they fell back slightly to 20.1 from 20.8. The party has maintained the ground it has made from 2004 when its share of the poll was just 15.8 per cent.

UKIP was the surprise package with 5,752 votes, a large increase from 3,404 five years ago.

The Scottish Greens were fifth with 2,418 or 5.6 per cent of the poll, again a slight rise on the last time around when they landed 2,165 votes.

Given that the three front runners and the Greens all increased their votes, it may be that the Liberal Democrats suffered at the hands of the controversial anti European party which topped the UK poll as a whole.

Liberal Democrat support fell away to 1,808, just 4.2 per cent, down more than 1,100 on 2009.

BNP support also slumped from 1,044 in 2009 to just 363; Britain First picked up 481; and NO2EU just 195.

Alex Fergusson, Tory MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, was happy with the region’s results although he was surprised at the size of UKIP support.

He said: “We have to be relatively pleased with the result particularly when you look at an increase in our vote.”

Mr Fergusson believes the SNP may have drawn “too much attention” to UKIP by saying the third Scottish seat was between the pair.

He added: “I’m not a supporter of UKIP in any shape or form and I found the extent of their support fairly surprising. But I think Alex Salmond may have galvanised people into voting UKIP to keep the SNP from winning the third seat.”

Labour MP Russell Brown said: “European elections have never been hugely fertile territory for Labour, so to get such a significant increase in our vote shows that local people are listening to our message: we will tackle the cost of living crisis facing local families.”

Elaine Murray added: “This result is very encouraging. Our vote increased by over 3,000 while the SNP vote appears to have flatlined, which is a major blow to them and the independence campaign.”

Nationalist MSP Joan McAlpine sounded a warning about the rise of UKIP. She said: “There can now be no doubt that the only threat to Scotland’s place in Europe – and our ability to bring jobs and investment to Scotland – is the UKIP agenda that is dictating the terms of Westminster politics.

“That agenda is the exact opposite of what Scotland needs, which is why we need to build our own relationship with our European neighbours as an independent country – something that only a Yes vote in September can secure.”

The SNP topped the national poll and has two MEPs, Ian Hudghton and Alyn Smith; Labour was second and also retains two MEPs, David Martin and Catherine Stihler; while the Tories have one, Ian Duncan, pictured inset above, and UKIP’s member is David Coburn.